So, I finally came across mention of a broken Wolf tactic I've been sitting on for a while. I'll admit, I haven't been paying much attention to the Wolves stuff but the tactic had always seemed to slip through notice.
It seems BlackTemplarDC over at the miniwargaming.com forums figured this little trick out. So like most tricks in the Space Wolves codex, it doesn't come cheap.
My original thought is a little different from his own, so I'll explain it how I planned on using it.
6 Longfang pack 2 multi-melta, 3 missle launchers
Drop Pod
Logan Grimnar
450 points
I went with missle launchers because of the double duty they can pull, str 8 ap3 single shot, or small blast for hordes, the Multi-melta's are the same price, and there for tank duty. If you are using wolfguard, you could attatch a wolfguard in termie armour with a cyclone launcher, but it's not necessary.
So you use the drop pod to drop this surprise, turn one onto the enemies back lines. The Longfangs and Logan come out, with him giving the relentless special rule. You then split the Multi-Melta's at the closest problematic vehicle, with the missle launchers hitting a second problem target, tank, MC, squad, etc. The biggest problem with this is that you need to get support there quickly. When I designed my own list, virtually everything else in the army was cavalry, with one other Drop Pod with Grey Hunters. This makes it a very rapid insertion force, and if I don't think I can back up the Longfangs quick enough, I drop the Grey Hunters first.
Now beyond that first turn, you can have Logan stay with the unit and either use tankhunters, or keep moving with relentless, or move him off to use in assault with other units. I'm of the mind to keep him with the Longfangs, I have a feeling that he'd provide a better return giving them the option to shoot virtually every round. Besides which, the other unique ability can give any friendly model within 18" +1 attack for that player turn, once per game; with everything being quickly into your opponents deployment, that's going to hit the largest majority of my army anyhow, and adding Logan to any assault during that turn will have been a waste.
Monday, October 26, 2009
Friday, October 23, 2009
Kabal of Agony
So I realized, I haven't really touched on what my standard list/tactics are for my Dark Eldar. So I figured I'd remedy that problem.
We usually do 1750 point games, so I'm going to give my 1750 list, and how I use it.
HQ:
Haemonculus - Jetbike, scissorhands, destructor, shadowfield
Haemonculus - scissorhands, destructor
Haemonculus - scissorhands, destructor
Haemonculus - scissorhands, destructor
Elites:
5 Grotesques - Raider
8 Wyches - wych weapons, succubus w/agonizer, Raider w/horrorfex
8 Wyches - wych weapons, succubus w/agonizer, Raider w/horrorfex
Troops
10 Warriors - 2 Dark Lances
10 Warriors - 2 Dark Lances
9 Warriors - Sybarite w/agonizer, blaster, splinter cannon, Raider w/horrorfex
9 Warriors - Sybarite w/agonizer, blaster, splinter cannon, Raider w/horrorfex
Heavy
Talos
Ravager - 3x Disentigrators
Ravager - 3x Disentigrators
I may play with loadouts and numbers a little, but this is what I like to start with. It's obviously a fairly optimized list, I'm a bit of a min/maxer by nature. But it's easy to define roles for the squads.
The 3 Haemonculi on foot will acompany the Raider squads, and the Grotesque squad. So that leaves the only things not Raider mounted the 2 Warrior squads on foot, the Talos, and the Jetbike mounted Haemonculus. If I'm going second, I'll generally try and hid the Ravagers in the middle of the Raider groups, and stay as far away as I can. If I'm going first, I try and spread out my forces to draw my opponents deployment across a larger area to try and counter me.
From there I choose 2 units I want dead. I generally prioritize long range, or fast moving targets, and troops of those types whenever possible. The Wych squads head for one target each, while the Raider squads split and back up one Wych squad each. The Grotesques will back up which ever group looks like they will have a tougher time. If the enemy looks like they are within 24"(or I rolled a 12" assault), I'll move directly after them with the wyches, hoping to move 12" disembark, fleet and assault turn one. The Raider squads will get ready for a turn 2 strike, moving flat out to get a cover save, but staying more than 12" away.
During this movement, I'm keeping an eye on fire lanes to targets, and moving my Ravagers in such a way to take advantage of cover, not moving more than 6" though. The Talos is used as mobile cover, if my Ravagers look like they are too wide open, I move him just to the edge of a fire lane, then after the Ravager drops it's 3 templates, I'll run it into the firepath to grant a cover save to the Ravager.
The Warriors on foot, generally get deployed on an objective, or as close as they can
get to an objective in cover. The dark lance shots usually head towards whatever vehicle looks like it's in range, hopefully something like a rhino if possible.
Lastly the jetbike mounted Haemonculus heads off to whatever unit is castled in cover, getting ready to harrass next turn. If he doesn't get overlooked, people waste a ton of shots trying to kill him.
What I've generally found from most opponents, is they simply can't ignore the fact that there are 5 Raiders that will be in CC next turn, if not already on turn one; because of this, they forgo shooting at the Ravagers, who will efficiently pick apart units from 36" away, and instead focus on the Raiders. For the same reason, the Jetbike Haemonculus, and Talos get a free ride to the front lines. Focus will always start on the wyches, because that's who I talk up the most. They have invulnerable saves in CC, they reduce your weapons skill, etc. Opponents fear them, and rightly so. I also make a point of sending the two combined wyches against any of the opponents strongest CC squads. With 2 agonizers at I6, I can generally count on winning the combat and making that super unit look a little weaker, and help reinforce the idea that Wyches are what to watch for.
Of course, both squads of wyches are considered completely expendable. I'm counting on my Ravagers, and Raider squads to do all the work. Because the Ravagers are so far away, and so much is a more immediate threat up close, they can fire unaccosted for atleast 2 rounds generally, this lets them quickly make their points back. Then the Raider squads with Haemonculi get to disembark and drop a variable AP flamer template, and a large number of shots to take out squads, with a decent CC ability to finish up.
Cheers
We usually do 1750 point games, so I'm going to give my 1750 list, and how I use it.
HQ:
Haemonculus - Jetbike, scissorhands, destructor, shadowfield
Haemonculus - scissorhands, destructor
Haemonculus - scissorhands, destructor
Haemonculus - scissorhands, destructor
Elites:
5 Grotesques - Raider
8 Wyches - wych weapons, succubus w/agonizer, Raider w/horrorfex
8 Wyches - wych weapons, succubus w/agonizer, Raider w/horrorfex
Troops
10 Warriors - 2 Dark Lances
10 Warriors - 2 Dark Lances
9 Warriors - Sybarite w/agonizer, blaster, splinter cannon, Raider w/horrorfex
9 Warriors - Sybarite w/agonizer, blaster, splinter cannon, Raider w/horrorfex
Heavy
Talos
Ravager - 3x Disentigrators
Ravager - 3x Disentigrators
I may play with loadouts and numbers a little, but this is what I like to start with. It's obviously a fairly optimized list, I'm a bit of a min/maxer by nature. But it's easy to define roles for the squads.
The 3 Haemonculi on foot will acompany the Raider squads, and the Grotesque squad. So that leaves the only things not Raider mounted the 2 Warrior squads on foot, the Talos, and the Jetbike mounted Haemonculus. If I'm going second, I'll generally try and hid the Ravagers in the middle of the Raider groups, and stay as far away as I can. If I'm going first, I try and spread out my forces to draw my opponents deployment across a larger area to try and counter me.
From there I choose 2 units I want dead. I generally prioritize long range, or fast moving targets, and troops of those types whenever possible. The Wych squads head for one target each, while the Raider squads split and back up one Wych squad each. The Grotesques will back up which ever group looks like they will have a tougher time. If the enemy looks like they are within 24"(or I rolled a 12" assault), I'll move directly after them with the wyches, hoping to move 12" disembark, fleet and assault turn one. The Raider squads will get ready for a turn 2 strike, moving flat out to get a cover save, but staying more than 12" away.
During this movement, I'm keeping an eye on fire lanes to targets, and moving my Ravagers in such a way to take advantage of cover, not moving more than 6" though. The Talos is used as mobile cover, if my Ravagers look like they are too wide open, I move him just to the edge of a fire lane, then after the Ravager drops it's 3 templates, I'll run it into the firepath to grant a cover save to the Ravager.
The Warriors on foot, generally get deployed on an objective, or as close as they can
get to an objective in cover. The dark lance shots usually head towards whatever vehicle looks like it's in range, hopefully something like a rhino if possible.
Lastly the jetbike mounted Haemonculus heads off to whatever unit is castled in cover, getting ready to harrass next turn. If he doesn't get overlooked, people waste a ton of shots trying to kill him.
What I've generally found from most opponents, is they simply can't ignore the fact that there are 5 Raiders that will be in CC next turn, if not already on turn one; because of this, they forgo shooting at the Ravagers, who will efficiently pick apart units from 36" away, and instead focus on the Raiders. For the same reason, the Jetbike Haemonculus, and Talos get a free ride to the front lines. Focus will always start on the wyches, because that's who I talk up the most. They have invulnerable saves in CC, they reduce your weapons skill, etc. Opponents fear them, and rightly so. I also make a point of sending the two combined wyches against any of the opponents strongest CC squads. With 2 agonizers at I6, I can generally count on winning the combat and making that super unit look a little weaker, and help reinforce the idea that Wyches are what to watch for.
Of course, both squads of wyches are considered completely expendable. I'm counting on my Ravagers, and Raider squads to do all the work. Because the Ravagers are so far away, and so much is a more immediate threat up close, they can fire unaccosted for atleast 2 rounds generally, this lets them quickly make their points back. Then the Raider squads with Haemonculi get to disembark and drop a variable AP flamer template, and a large number of shots to take out squads, with a decent CC ability to finish up.
Cheers
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Planetary Empires
So with winter coming around, and the likelyhood of more time inside and more gaming coming with it, I decided to finally go out and grab some of the expansions I've been eyeing up since they released. I grabbed the Planetstrike book a couple weeks ago, thanks to the efficiency of the new hobby store, and my girlfriend and I placed a small order during MiniWargaming.com's birthday sale, that brought in a few odds and ends for armies, some resin casting materials, and the Planetary Empires expansion.
I have to say, I am absolutely blown away at the simple brilliance of this expansion. I fully expected I was going to have a fair amout of reading on my hands, and lots of explaination to players looking to join, but shockingly not. The actual rules consist of 5 pages, a little over a page of which is a table and a chart. It was all so brilliantly simple that I immediately fell in love with the concept. Basically you have players randomly choose and place map tiles until you get to the size you want, then players choose and place structures until they feel there are enough, after that, each player claims tiles until they are all taken. A very methodical setup, and simple to boot. The most difficult part would be the structures, but there are only 4 types of structures, one of which is defensive, making the tile it is on and those around it more difficult to capture, and then the 3 remaining structures basically work the same. At the beginning of each game, you compare the like structures, the player with the most gets a bonus, if you own double the structures you gain double the bonus, triple the structures triple the bonus. The basic bonuses for the structures, are an additional 50 points for your upcoming battle, +1 for rolls to determine who goes first, and reserve rolles, or a D6 roll which you can add any USR from the main book to one unit in your army if you roll a 4+. From there you basically have the majority of the game, the only other things are that the player with the lower amout of map tiles gains a points bonus to represent the other side having to spread forces. After each game 'turn' anyone who one a battle may choose to attempt to capture a tile from the opponents which is done on a modified 2D6 role, with target numbers dependant on the location of the tile and specifics of the tile and the battle.
So my next task is to get the tiles and buildings primed, painted, and hopefully devise a way that I can keep the map fairly static during transport, but still modular enough that we can disassemble and re-use it in the future. What I'm going to go looking for this week is a magnetic paint, I had seen a video from GD Toronto where one of the clubs used it on a LoTR table to allow the goblins to scale the side of the mountain. I'm hoping I'll be able to use this on the square edge around the tiles and the edges, hopefully allowing the tiles to magnetize together somewhat, and then also be able to magnetize to a large board with either more of the paint, or some of the roll out sheet magnet.
If anyone has any familiarity with the paint, post a comment or drop me an email.
I have to say, I am absolutely blown away at the simple brilliance of this expansion. I fully expected I was going to have a fair amout of reading on my hands, and lots of explaination to players looking to join, but shockingly not. The actual rules consist of 5 pages, a little over a page of which is a table and a chart. It was all so brilliantly simple that I immediately fell in love with the concept. Basically you have players randomly choose and place map tiles until you get to the size you want, then players choose and place structures until they feel there are enough, after that, each player claims tiles until they are all taken. A very methodical setup, and simple to boot. The most difficult part would be the structures, but there are only 4 types of structures, one of which is defensive, making the tile it is on and those around it more difficult to capture, and then the 3 remaining structures basically work the same. At the beginning of each game, you compare the like structures, the player with the most gets a bonus, if you own double the structures you gain double the bonus, triple the structures triple the bonus. The basic bonuses for the structures, are an additional 50 points for your upcoming battle, +1 for rolls to determine who goes first, and reserve rolles, or a D6 roll which you can add any USR from the main book to one unit in your army if you roll a 4+. From there you basically have the majority of the game, the only other things are that the player with the lower amout of map tiles gains a points bonus to represent the other side having to spread forces. After each game 'turn' anyone who one a battle may choose to attempt to capture a tile from the opponents which is done on a modified 2D6 role, with target numbers dependant on the location of the tile and specifics of the tile and the battle.
So my next task is to get the tiles and buildings primed, painted, and hopefully devise a way that I can keep the map fairly static during transport, but still modular enough that we can disassemble and re-use it in the future. What I'm going to go looking for this week is a magnetic paint, I had seen a video from GD Toronto where one of the clubs used it on a LoTR table to allow the goblins to scale the side of the mountain. I'm hoping I'll be able to use this on the square edge around the tiles and the edges, hopefully allowing the tiles to magnetize together somewhat, and then also be able to magnetize to a large board with either more of the paint, or some of the roll out sheet magnet.
If anyone has any familiarity with the paint, post a comment or drop me an email.
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Homemade Battlemats
So everyone has the space or time to build a full out warhammer table, this might be because you are in an appartment, or you only play at school. Regardless, this is a quick video giving a quick explaination of how we go about making our battlemats for the local club. These work great because all you need is two of the folding buffet tables, and you can set up your mat.
In our case, we rent a lunch room at the local College, so we don't have to worry about tables. They have plenty of the 8 x 2.5 foot buffet tables so we push them together and ig gives us an 8 x 5 space. So to get a proper sized battlefield, we build a battlemat and lay it down on the table, it works great.
Take a look at the video, and enjoy.
In our case, we rent a lunch room at the local College, so we don't have to worry about tables. They have plenty of the 8 x 2.5 foot buffet tables so we push them together and ig gives us an 8 x 5 space. So to get a proper sized battlefield, we build a battlemat and lay it down on the table, it works great.
Take a look at the video, and enjoy.
Saturday, October 10, 2009
Unseely Alliance
So I'm getting prepped for the local club tournament Nov. 1st and have been agonizing over the idea of what to use. I've recently been doing alot of work on the Chaos forces we have here at home. It originally started out as an Emperor's Children army of my own that suffered a Humpty Dumpty type mishap in our last move, and a Thousand Sons force that my girlfriend started when she wanted a psyker force before moving to Eldar.
The combined forces of Chaos first came out when the little one was interested in the game. She's into magic, so we started with the Thousand Sons, and it slowly added the Noise Marines for extra fire power and looks. She isn't really into playing right now, mostly because she's not into painting the Chaos Marines despite some success with the list. Slowly the idea won me over was flexible, and unexpected force that could bring alot to bear. The more I thought about it, the more I thought about why that force would be together. One of my favorite things about the old Canadian Hall of Heroes tournament system was you were required to give a writeup for your force.
Anyhow, the Thousand Sons had already started to be painted a slightly different colour, so I decided they wouldn't be "Thousand Sons", they'd be some other force. This of course brings me to Ahriman, since he is the one responsible for the whole Rubric thing. So I thought to myself that the Thousand Sons are powerful and immortal killing machines, and there are going to be others who would want what they have, regardless of the sacrifice, and they would likely worship and follow Ahriman like a god to recieve that gift. So the idea grew that the force would be Ahriman's Guard, they would assist Ahriman in collecting the most powerful of magics in the universe. Of course, sheer strength and resilience would never win out every time, so I thought about how a cunning Ahriman would work around that problem. That's where I added Lucius and his band of Emperors Children. Lucius is one of the few truely immortal beings in the universe, and always looking to prove his prowess in battle. So it wouldn't take much to convice Lucius that Ahriman could pit him against some of the most undefeatable foes in the universe. So the shakey alliance started, Ahriman using Lucius and his unique abilities to defeat the most impregnable fortresses from within when all else failed. Lucius in return grew even more powerful with the absorbtion of these powerful foes, as well as command of a powerful force of his own Warband and Ahriman's Guard.
I really do like the idea, and if I can manage to get the models painted, I'm seriously thinking of fielding 3 mid sized squads of Thousand Sons, 3 squads of noise marines(one in a rhino), a squad of demons, a defiler, Lucius, and a second HQ. Either a Slaanesh Lord on a steed with Blissgiver, or a Tzeentch DP with wings Gift of Chaos and Warptime. No Lash, I really don't like the power and hate playing what's expected, in case you haven't guessed.
The combined forces of Chaos first came out when the little one was interested in the game. She's into magic, so we started with the Thousand Sons, and it slowly added the Noise Marines for extra fire power and looks. She isn't really into playing right now, mostly because she's not into painting the Chaos Marines despite some success with the list. Slowly the idea won me over was flexible, and unexpected force that could bring alot to bear. The more I thought about it, the more I thought about why that force would be together. One of my favorite things about the old Canadian Hall of Heroes tournament system was you were required to give a writeup for your force.
Anyhow, the Thousand Sons had already started to be painted a slightly different colour, so I decided they wouldn't be "Thousand Sons", they'd be some other force. This of course brings me to Ahriman, since he is the one responsible for the whole Rubric thing. So I thought to myself that the Thousand Sons are powerful and immortal killing machines, and there are going to be others who would want what they have, regardless of the sacrifice, and they would likely worship and follow Ahriman like a god to recieve that gift. So the idea grew that the force would be Ahriman's Guard, they would assist Ahriman in collecting the most powerful of magics in the universe. Of course, sheer strength and resilience would never win out every time, so I thought about how a cunning Ahriman would work around that problem. That's where I added Lucius and his band of Emperors Children. Lucius is one of the few truely immortal beings in the universe, and always looking to prove his prowess in battle. So it wouldn't take much to convice Lucius that Ahriman could pit him against some of the most undefeatable foes in the universe. So the shakey alliance started, Ahriman using Lucius and his unique abilities to defeat the most impregnable fortresses from within when all else failed. Lucius in return grew even more powerful with the absorbtion of these powerful foes, as well as command of a powerful force of his own Warband and Ahriman's Guard.
I really do like the idea, and if I can manage to get the models painted, I'm seriously thinking of fielding 3 mid sized squads of Thousand Sons, 3 squads of noise marines(one in a rhino), a squad of demons, a defiler, Lucius, and a second HQ. Either a Slaanesh Lord on a steed with Blissgiver, or a Tzeentch DP with wings Gift of Chaos and Warptime. No Lash, I really don't like the power and hate playing what's expected, in case you haven't guessed.
Sunday, October 4, 2009
Space Wolf battle
So I did pick up the new Wolf codex yesterday, and I took a good look at it. Then as an added bonus, one of the guys at the club today played my Dark Eldar with a wolf army. First, my overall impression of the Space Wolves Codex is that it is a strong list, but all the tricks, and 'I win' rumors and upgrades that have floated around are so ridiculously priced that you are going to have to ask your opponent to play you 2:1 in points to have any hope of winning. That being said, there are some very strong units for a good prices that are going to run rampant in the hands of good players. Oh, and on a personal note, marines on cavalry, yay!
That being said, my opponent fielded a 1750 point list that looked like this(I may forget some specifics):
Logan Grimnar
5 WolfGuard w/ terminator armour(1 cyclone, PF/SBs) in Drop Pod
5 Wolfguard w/ terminator armour(1 assault cannon, 2 wolf claws, 2 TH/SS)
10 Greyhunters in Rhino(Powerfist, meltagun, mark of wulfen)
10 Greyhunters in Rhino(Powerfist, meltagun, mark of wulfen)
LandRaider Crusader (I think this was a transport option for the other Wolfguard squad tho)
5 Longfangs w/4 MissleLaunchers
Not an overly imposing list, I got first turn, and managed to kill all but on Longfang, and roll horrendously against the LandRaider with about 6 Dark Lance shots. Things basically went south from there with the dice. I did make a couple mistakes, like assaulting the terminators with the Talos. I had hoped to thin them a bit, but it didn't quite work out. I think it took about 3 rounds of fire and over 20 lance shots to take out the LandRaider finally. With an equal amount of frustration in trying to crack open the rhinos to assault the occupants. This left alot of my units standing in the open to be cleaned up.
Overall, it was a good game, I ran into some dice trouble, but wasn't overly worried about the list coming at me. Everything was a troop basically, which was effective use of the org chart, but I think he sunk alot of points into upgrading the wolf guard. I think they could be fit into the army in a much cheaper, giving him a much more broad attack base.
Like I said, I have picked up the codex, and do plan on using it in the future, this is mostly because of what I said earlier, marines on Cavalry. The backstory to that being that when I first started 40k, at the time that 3rd edition came out(I had been disuaded from 2nd because of the length of games) I saw the cavalry entry in the main rule book, and all I could think of was how much of a surprise it would be to assault 12". But since I started as marines, that later became black templars, that was out of the question for me. So since I love the Norse mythos used in the book, and the idea of Marine cavalry, I figured my norse marine chapter on the shelf will start seeing use as a Space Wolves army when I have to play them. Now just to convert up some cavalry, I'd really love to use the old Kislev bears instead of wolves, but I'll have to see.
That being said, my opponent fielded a 1750 point list that looked like this(I may forget some specifics):
Logan Grimnar
5 WolfGuard w/ terminator armour(1 cyclone, PF/SBs) in Drop Pod
5 Wolfguard w/ terminator armour(1 assault cannon, 2 wolf claws, 2 TH/SS)
10 Greyhunters in Rhino(Powerfist, meltagun, mark of wulfen)
10 Greyhunters in Rhino(Powerfist, meltagun, mark of wulfen)
LandRaider Crusader (I think this was a transport option for the other Wolfguard squad tho)
5 Longfangs w/4 MissleLaunchers
Not an overly imposing list, I got first turn, and managed to kill all but on Longfang, and roll horrendously against the LandRaider with about 6 Dark Lance shots. Things basically went south from there with the dice. I did make a couple mistakes, like assaulting the terminators with the Talos. I had hoped to thin them a bit, but it didn't quite work out. I think it took about 3 rounds of fire and over 20 lance shots to take out the LandRaider finally. With an equal amount of frustration in trying to crack open the rhinos to assault the occupants. This left alot of my units standing in the open to be cleaned up.
Overall, it was a good game, I ran into some dice trouble, but wasn't overly worried about the list coming at me. Everything was a troop basically, which was effective use of the org chart, but I think he sunk alot of points into upgrading the wolf guard. I think they could be fit into the army in a much cheaper, giving him a much more broad attack base.
Like I said, I have picked up the codex, and do plan on using it in the future, this is mostly because of what I said earlier, marines on Cavalry. The backstory to that being that when I first started 40k, at the time that 3rd edition came out(I had been disuaded from 2nd because of the length of games) I saw the cavalry entry in the main rule book, and all I could think of was how much of a surprise it would be to assault 12". But since I started as marines, that later became black templars, that was out of the question for me. So since I love the Norse mythos used in the book, and the idea of Marine cavalry, I figured my norse marine chapter on the shelf will start seeing use as a Space Wolves army when I have to play them. Now just to convert up some cavalry, I'd really love to use the old Kislev bears instead of wolves, but I'll have to see.
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